The Benjamin Prize was established as a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

prize to counter

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

in 2002. The prize is awarded in memory of

Benjamin Hermansen Benjamin Hermansen (29 May 1985 – 26 January 2001) was a Norwegian boy whose father was born in Ghana; his mother was Norwegian. He was stabbed to death at Holmlia in Oslo, Norway, just before midnight on 26 January 2001 by people from the n ...

, who at the age of 15 years, was murdered in

Holmlia Holmlia is a neighborhood in Oslo, Norway with around 12,000 residents. It is located in the south-western part of Søndre Nordstrand, the southernmost borough in Oslo. The neighborhood is served by Holmlia Station on the Østfold Line, whi ...

Søndre Nordstrand Søndre Nordstrand (Southern Nordstrand) is a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. It is the southernmost borough of Oslo, bordering Nordstrand. As of 2020 it has 39,066 inhabitants and the highest rate of immigrant population at 56%. It is the ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The death was racially motivated. The prize is awarded each year on 27 January in conjunction with the commemoration of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. On this date

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

forces liberated

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...

in Auschwitz and

Birkenau Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. ...

. The prize is awarded to a school that actively works against racism and discrimination. The work for which the award is given is to be characterized by: * Anchoring: The school's work against racism and discrimination represent a long-term commitment. * Involvement: The school's work against racism and discrimination involves faculty and students at the school. * Highlighting: The school's work against racism and discrimination is visible both in the school and in the broader community. The prize consists of 250,000 kroner, and a miniature bust of Benjamin Hermansen, created by

Ivar Sjaastad Ivar (Old Norse ''Ívarr'') is a Scandinavian masculine given name. Another variant of the name is Iver, which is more common in Norway. The Old Norse name has several possible etymologies. In North Germanic phonology, several of the elements c ...

. The original bust is placed at Holmlia. The

Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training ( no, Utdanningsdirektoratet, UDIR) is Norwegian government agency under the Ministry of Education and Research. The Directorate is responsible for the development of kindergarten, primary an ...

awards the prize. The jury which determines the recipient consisted of Marit Hermansen (Benjamin’s mother) until her death in 2019. Since, it is representrd by members from the Antiracism Center, the

Sami Parliament of Norway Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...

, Union of Education Norway,

School Student Union of Norway School Student Union of Norway ( no, Elevorganisasjonen, SSUN or EO) is a Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethni ...

, Parents Committee for Primary and Lower Secondary Education,A Norwegian representative organization of parents with children in primary school which serves as an advisory body for the Ministry in matters related to cooperation between home and school. and the

Norwegian Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities The Center for Studies of the Holocaust and Religious Minorities ( no, Senter for studier av Holocaust og livssynsminoriteter, or ''HL-senteret'') is a Norwegian research institution. It is organised as an independent foundation and is an affiliat ...

Winners

* 2002 — Sunndal high school in

Sunndalsøra is the administrative centre of Sunndal Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village of Sunndalsøra lies at the mouth of the river Driva at the beginning of the Sunndalsfjord. Sunndalsøra is surrounded by steep mountains, suc ...

* 2003 — Fjell school in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such as Konner ...

* 2004 — Ila school in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...

* 2005 — Gommerud school in

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electora ...

* 2006 — Mandal secondary school in

Mandal A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

* 2007 — Skotselv school in

Øvre Eiker Øvre Eiker is a municipality in the traditional and electoral district Buskerud in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Eiker. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hokksund. The old municipal ...

in Buskerud * 2008 —

Sogn Upper Secondary School Sogn Upper Secondary School ( no, Sogn videregående skole) was an upper secondary school at Ullevål in Oslo, Norway. The school was established as ''Sogn vocational school'' in 1961. For several years Sogn was Norway's largest Upper Secondary S ...

* 2009 — Skullerud school in

* 2010 — Hagaløkka school in

Asker Asker ( no, Asker), properly called Askerbygda in Norwegian, is a district and former municipality in Akershus, Norway. From 2020 it is part of the larger administrative municipality Asker, Viken (also known as Greater Asker) in Viken count ...

* 2011 — Karuss school in

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, f ...

* 2012 — Greveskogen high school in

Tønsberg Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative c ...

* 2013 — Brandengen high school in

* 2014 — Uranienborg skole in

* 2015 — Sjøvegan high school in

Salangen Salangen is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sjøvegan, where most of the people in the municipality live. Other villages include Elvenes, Laberg, and Seljeskog ...

* 2016 – Løkenåsen skole in

Lørenskog is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. A suburb of Oslo, it is part of the Oslo urban area and the traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lørenskog. Lørenskog was sepa ...

* 2017 — Høyland ungdomsskole in

Sandnes Sandnes () is a city and municipality in Rogaland, Norway. It lies immediately south of Stavanger, the 4th largest city in Norway and together, the Stavanger/Sandnes area is the third-largest urban area in Norway. The urban city of Sandnes lie ...

* 2018 —

Kuben Upper Secondary School Kuben Upper Secondary School ( no, Kuben videregående skole) is an upper secondary school at Økern in Oslo, Norway. The school is part of Kuben Vocational Arena, and is Oslo's largest Upper secondary school, with approximately 1,850 students. Ku ...

* 2019 — Alvimhaugen barneskole in

Sarpsborg Sarpsborg ( or ), historically Borg, is a city and municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Sarpsborg. Sarpsborg is part of the fifth largest urban area in Norway when paired with neigh ...

* 2020 — Glemmen videregående skole in

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a city and municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Fredrikstad. The city of Fredrikstad was founded in 1 ...

* 2021 – Sofienberg skole in Oslo

References

External links

Benjaminprisen
{{in lang, no at

. Anti-racism in Norway Norwegian awards Awards established in 2002 2002 establishments in Norway